John Hussey, 1st Baron Hussey of Sleaford (1465-1537)
}} John Hussey, 1st Baron Hussey of Sleaford (sometimes spelled Hosey, Husey, Hussie, Huse; 1465/1466 – 1536/1537) was Chief Butler of England from 1521 until his death. He was a member of the House of Lords, and a Chamberlain to King Henry VIII's daughter, Mary I of England. His direct descendants include Mary Hussey Smith (1823–1908), the great-great-great grandmother of actress Meghan Markle. Early years A direct descendant of King John, Hussey was born in Sleaford, Lincolnshire, England, son of Sir William Hussey, an English judge and Chief Justice of the King’s Bench. His mother was the former Elizabeth Berkeley. Hussey's siblings included Sir Robert Hussey (d.1546), the father of Elizabeth Hussey, the 'Mistress Crane' at whose home at East Molesey the first of the Marprelate tracts, Martin's Epistle, was printed in October 1588; Elizabeth Hussey, who married Richard Grey, 3rd Earl of Kent; and Mary Hussey, who married William Willoughby, 11th Baron Willoughby de Eresby. In 1497, at the Battle of Blackheath, Hussey was knighted. Six years later, he was made "Knight of the Body", bodyguard to King Henry VII, followed by an appointment as "Master of Lyfield Forest", Rutland in 1505 and Comptroller of the Household in 1509. On 16 August 1513, at the battle of the Spurs, he was promoted to Knight banneret. Career In 1493 Hussey was appointed Sheriff of Lincolnshire and by 1513 he was custos rotulorum for the county. On 6 July 1523, he was elected Member of Parliament as a knight of the shire for Lincolnshire. Three years later, 5 February 1526, he was appointed a judge. He was created Lord Hussey, of Sleaford, by King Henry VIII in 1529. On 3 November 1529 he was re-elected to Parliament as knight of the shire for Lincolnshire but received a Writs of Summons on 1 December 1529 to the House of Lords as 'Johannes Hussey de sleford, chivaler'. In June 1530, Hussey was named Lincolnshire Castle's Commissioner for Gaol Delivery, and later that same year, Hussey sold some of his large holdings (the Somersetshire manors of Batheaston, Bathampton, Bathford, Twerton; the Wiltshire manors of Compton Bassett, Comerwell, and North Wraxall)."Medieval Deeds of Bath and District" Henry VIII "lodged" at Hussey's Sleaford estate where he held court the next morning before venturing to York to meet with the King of Scotland. On 10 September 1533, Lord Hussey attended the christening of princess Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth I), daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, and carried the canopy over the three-day old child with George Boleyn, Viscount Rochford, Lord Thomas Howard, and William Howard, 1st Baron Howard of Effingham. Hussey was Chamberlain to King Henry's daughter, Mary, while Hussey's second wife, Lady Anne, was one of Mary's attendants. Though King Henry forbade anyone from calling his daughter, Mary, by the title of Princess, Lady Anne did do so, after which she lost her attendant position around June 1534 and was imprisoned in the Tower of London in August. Asking for the King's pardon, she was released before the end of the year. In addition to his responsibilities at Court and Parliament, Hussey was steward to John Longland, the conservative Bishop of Lincoln, and King Henry's confessor. Downfall - Hussey Tower - are all that is left following the orders of King Henry VIII to destroy it. ]] Hussey was implicated along with his cousin as complicit in the 1536 uprising known as the Pilgrimage of Grace. Though Hussey denied participation in the rebellion, he was accused of conspiring to change laws and depose the king, and that he abetted those who made war on the king in October 1536. The charges may have been levied in part because of Hussey's Catholic sympathies,Hoyle 2001:159 and because Hussey and his wife, having served 'Princess' Mary, were partisans on her behalf.Hoyle 2001:67 Hussey was indicted and tried for treason, and found guilty by the House of Lords. He was beheaded in Lincoln in 1536, while his cousin, Thomas Darcy, was executed on Tower Hill. Hussey's statement ("confession") survives.Hoyle 2001:25 Family Hussey first married the widowed Dame Margaret Barr (née Blount), wife of Sir John Barr and daughter of Sir Simon Blount, around 1492 at Keynsham, Gloucestershire, by whom he had issue: * Sir William Hussey b. c 1493, d. 19 January 1556 * Sir Giles Hussey b. c 1495 - Knighted by the Earl of Surrey at the Sacking of Morlaix in France 1522, who married Jane Pigot, and had issue; his descendants include President Richard Nixon, actor James Dean and entrepreneur J. A. Folger. Sir Giles's great grandson was John Hussey (buried 24 May 1632 in Dorking, Surreyshire ) who married Mary Wood (Moor) in 1593. The son of John and Mary Hussey was Captain Christopher Hussey (b.1599, Dorking, England - d.1686, Hampton, New Hampshire), who was a founder of Nantucket and the first person in Hampton, New Hampshire to swear allegiance to King Charles II who had been restored to the throne of England. As a "principal original settler" of Hampton, Capt. Hussey took the oath on 10 April 1678 and was one of "ten councellors commissioned by the king for the government" of New Hampshire upon its separation from Massachusetts on 18 September 1679, according to "Acts of the Privy Council." Capt. Hussey was a representative to the New Hampshire Council from 1679 to 1685. Capt. Hussey's daughter, Huldah Hussey (born c.1643-d.1740), is recorded in the volume, Daughters of the American Colonists. * Elizabeth Hussey b. c 1497 * Sir Gilbert Hussey b. c 1499 * Reginald Hussey b. c 1501 Hussey secondly married Lady Anne Grey in 1509 at Sleaford, Lincolnshire, England. According to historian Sir William Dugdale, in the documents written by Hussey, shortly before his death in 1537, he speaks of his wife as 'Anne.' She was the daughter of George Grey, 2nd Earl of Kent - by his second wife, Catherine Herbert. Lady Anne's paternal grandmother was Lady Katherine Percy, the great-great-granddaughter of King Edward III of England. Hussey and Lady Anne Grey had issue, including: * Thomas Hussey * Joan Hussey, wife of Sir Roger Forster. * Elizabeth Hussey, second wife of Sir Robert Throckmorton of Coughton, Warwickshire (d. 1586), and had four daughters and two sons. * Bridget Hussey (c. 1526 - 13 January 1600/1601), married firstly to Sir Richard Morrison of Cashiobury, Hertfordshire (d. 17 March 1556), married secondly to Henry Manners, 2nd Earl of Rutland before 1563, without issue, and married thirdly to Francis Russell, 2nd Earl of Bedford on 25 June 1566, as his second wife, and had no issue. Bridget's daughter by her first husband, Jane Sibella Morrison (d. July 1615), naturalized as an English subject in 1575/1576, married Henry Russell, Baron Russell (d. bef. June 1572 without issue and intestate), son of Francis Russell, 2nd Earl of Bedford, and after 1572, married secondly to Arthur Grey, 14th Baron Grey de Wilton, and had issue. * Anne (or Agnes) Hussey, married to Sir Humphrey Browne, Justice of the Common Pleas, by whom she was the mother of Christian Browne, wife of Sir John Tufton, 1st Baronet. * Dorothy Hussey * Mary Hussey After his execution, Hussey's home in Sleaford, as well as his other estates, were confiscated by the crown. In 1563, his children were restored to Parliament during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I of England, but Hussey's title was forfeited, and the estates were not returned. Claim of Hussey barony Lord Hussey's brother - Sir Robert Hussey and his son Sir Charles Hussey - adapted to the political requirements of the recently established Church of England; both serving in the office of sheriff. However, the descendants of the anti-Church of England Lord Hussey, whose barony and estates were forfeited, were left in far less secure positions, both regarding their financial and social status; by 1633, the descendants of Lord Hussey's son, Sir Giles Hussey, had left England to freely practice their non-conformist religion in New England. Lord Hussey's descendants who remained in England included Molineux Disney, a direct descendant of Sir William Hussey, who was the "Son and Heir to the said John Lord Hussey." On 21 March 1680, Molineux Disney made a claim to King Charles II that as, "son and heir, in the direct line to Lord Hussey" he was entitled to claim the Hussey barony. However, W. B. Turnbull noted in 1836 that "no entry occurs in the Lord's Journal relative to any preceedings upon it". Molineux had apparently withdrawn his application. Honours * 6 December 1533, John Fewterer, Confessor-General of Syon Abbey, dedicated his book, The myrrour or glasse of Christes passion, to "the Honorable 'Lord Husey', from Syon". References * * * * * * * External links *Will of Sir William Hussey, PROB 11/10/592, proved 4 July 1496, National Archives 11 December 2013 *Will of Dame Elizabeth Hussey, widow, PROB 11/14/415, proved 11 December 1504, National Archives 11 December 2013 Category:People from Sleaford, Lincolnshire Category:Barons in the Peerage of England Category:English judges Category:People executed under the Tudors for treason against England Category:Executed people from Lincolnshire Category:15th-century English people Category:High Sheriffs of Lincolnshire Category:Hussey family Category:People executed by Tudor England by decapitation Category:People executed under Henry VIII of England Category:English MPs 1515 Category:English MPs 1523 Category:English MPs 1529–1536 Category:Knights banneret of England Category:16th-century English judges Category:16th-century English lawyers Category:English politicians convicted of crimes